As I am sure you can imagine, it can be very tough for a baby to eat when the roof of their mouth is missing. They cannot properly latch on and suck because they need the palate to press their tongue against. Also, with the deformity of the top lip, they cannot close their mouth properly either.
You may ask yourself, "Why is it so important for baby to suck? Why not just squirt milk into their mouth?" Well, sucking is a very important part of their development. A baby who doesn't suck doesn't learn to use their mouth properly. I haven't had a Dr explain it fully to me yet, but I get the impression it has to do with speech development and their ability to eat properly as they grow up.
So, someone created a nipple for them. It is called a "pigeon." This nipple is very firm on top, and very soft on the bottom. The top side of the nipple then becomes a place for baby to press against. It also has a valve inside that helps regulate flow and keep the bottle from creating a vacuum. Somehow, this combination of nipple, and valve makes it possible for our little girl to suck from a bottle like a normal baby.
The bottles are not cheap, running about $20.00 each. But there are other bottles on the market for "normal" use that cost almost as much. Also, for some reason, the instruction manual for the ones we bought have no English. There is Vietnamese, Chinese and I think Japanese... No English, no Spanish, not even French. That's funny don't you think?
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